1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communicating information with a digital device which has a display screen, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for communicating information via the display screen of a digital device using light-simulated bar code technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of bar code scanners in a great many aspects of everyday life is commonplace. While typically printed on paper labels and stubs, bar codes have also been presented statically on the electronic displays of mobile communications devices; see, for example, International Publication No. WO 00/03328 Published Jan. 20, 2000 in the name of applicant Motorola Inc. However, reading static bar codes from displays has been problematical. A technology that simulates a bar code using light and thereby overcomes various limitations of static screen-displayed bar codes is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,093 issued Feb. 3, 2004 to Challa et al.